Liberals Ignore the Fracks of Life

Let’s take stock. Liberals oppose fracking because of geological uncertainties. Haven’t you heard it has caused earthquakes in Oklahoma? (It turns out earthquakes in Oklahoma and elsewhere are related to improper deep well injection wastewater disposal rather than the fracking charges, but that kind of nuance is lost on the left.) Also, right now the relicensing of California’s last operating nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon is being held up over seismic concerns, even though the plant has been through several robust earthquakes.

So why aren’t liberals opposed to Jerry Brown’s high speed rail project, which will have to make underground transit through several un-mapped earthquake faults, as reported in the Los Angeles Times this week:

The monumental task of building California’s bullet train will require punching 36 miles of tunnels through the geologically complex mountains north of Los Angeles.

Crews will have to cross the tectonic boundary that separates the North American and Pacific plates, boring through a jumble of fractured rock formations and a maze of earthquake faults, some of which are not mapped.

It will be the most ambitious tunneling project in the nation’s history.

Yet somehow no protests from environmentalists. I think we’ll call the movie Quest for the Holy Rail.

Of course, the heart of the story is the certainty that the $68 billion project is likely to cost twice as much.

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